The Addams Family by Jack Sharkey

 

(pb; 1965)

From the back cover

“Meet the Addams family.

“Gomez─master of the house─and several strange powers.

“Morticia─dressed in an attractive shroud, she casts a spell over everyone─and everything─around her.

“Pugsley─he took in stray kittens─straight into the dog kennel.

“Wednesday─a pigtailed daughter whose close friend is a headless doll.

“Uncle Fester─loved to feed the dog─to the crocodile.

“Plus Granny, Lurch the butler, and the family retainer, Thing─gift of a friend who had lent the Addams family a helping hand.”

 

Review

Based on Charles Addams's popular comic strip, this prequel to the television/ABC show of the same name (1964-66) is an episodic read, with each chapter-section a loosely linked continuation of the preceding chapter-section. Sometimes the set-up humor (with its offscreen, mentioned macabre action) gets stretched a bit thin writing-wise─it’s not a deal-breaking quality (the show also has that occasional, formulaic weakness)─but the characters (and their charm), the mostly spot-on wit, and overall concept make that nit a minor concern. Worth owning and reading, this, if you’re a fan of the series, or curious about how the characters, as shown in the ABC series, came to be where and the way they are.

Story breakdown

In “Be It Ever So Horrible,” the Addams move into a house that other people would consider horrible, bordering on offensive.

“What is the Sound of One Hand Cackling?” introduces Thing, their disembodied hand-servant, when they discover him living in their new house.

The third chapter, “Dear Old Mold and Ghoul Days,” finds Wednesday and Pugsley, with their macabre worldviews, freaking out their classmates and teacher.

“The Loud, Fragrant Flavor of Sharp Purple”: Abigail Glimmer, Wednesday and Pugsley’s schoolteacher (introduced in the previous chapter), visits the Addams. While she’s there, Gomez tries out one of his experiments on her─the Pentatronic Esthesidor, which allows its user to “experience any given sensation. In all five sense. Simulatneously” (Gomez). Things go delightfully awry for most involved.

In “The Inside is Definitely Out” an interior decorator (Miss Wyckwyre) with ulterior motives tries to─like other series-formulaic characters─fleece the Addams and, karmically, ends up paying the price for her deception, her payment not as pleasant as others’.

“The Weakness That Was” has Gomez opening a “clinic” for those who are supernaturally afflicted─not to cure them of them, but to make said afflictions, weaknesses, into strengths. Beowulf Moosefoot, city official “staff Psychologist on the City’s Chamber of  Commerce” comes to the Addams residence to investigate whether Gomez is a fraud.

“Ah, What’s the Youth?”: The Addams’ easily frightened accountant (Mr. Alden Fisk) is compelled to attend the Addams’ annual Halloween party, along with other mismatched guests.

The Army tries to induct Uncle Fester in “From Here to Perplexity,” only to see their battery of intake medical and psychological tests backfire in bizarre (for them) ways. Fester, born in 1626 and a military veteran, is especially amusing in this chapter, though it, like the television series and the tales within this book, run a bit long, threatening to mar the clever wit and distinctive feel of works relating to the Addams.

“You Can’t Leave Home Again” finds Morticia and Granny going to a posh resort while the former ponders and laments Gomez’s recent habit changes─he’s so nice, so kind!─and she fends off the advances of a con-artist lothario (Jed Justin). The ending to this has a particularly heartwarming, clever, and character-centric twist. This is one of my favorite story-chapters in Addams.

In “After Cousin Charles, What?”, Gomez and Morticia, look for fresh adventures to engage in. Especially fun and short (in relation to other chapters), this is a perfect and laugh-out-loud fun lead-in to the television series.